Damned: A Randomized Online Horror Game - What is Damned? Damned is a randomized online horror game for up to 5 players (4 survivors and 1 monster). You’ll be able to play as one of four people trapped in different haunted places (hotels, hospitals, etc).

July 28

Small Patch before the big patch with corrections and some small requested features.

Changelog

Update Version 2.0 RC10

Gameplay- Tweaked Phantom speed in the Factory stage.
- Added option to remove the Insanity System from a match.
- Disabled picking batteries when the flashlight is charged.
- Added Mute options to individual players (Voice chat), hold Tab ingame to see how to mute players.

Level Design- Fixed areas possible to get stuck and small objects position.
- Removed the bunnies.

Bugs- Fixed bug allowing matches to have multiple monsters.
- Fixed bug allowing Lurker to hear the survivors footsteps.
- Fixed bug causing Father John to see through walls when running against them.
- Fixed bug causing crash when typing a non digit character in the Activation > Serial fields.

Profile- Added option to change the username via Options > Profile.

Network- Fixed bug causing UPnP entries to linger in the router when closing the game.

Inputs- Changed mouse cursor to not be exclusive to the app (Alt+Tab should release the mouse always).
- Implemented borderless when playing in windowed mode.

Reviews

“...in Damned if things are happening then it’s because whomever is in control of the monster is right there in the room...That’s a really smart idea...”
RockPaperShotgun.com

“What sounds really cool...is the stuff you can do while playing the monster.”
Kotaku.com

“...Damned has a unique premise...”
Eurogamer.com

About This Game

Damned: A Randomized Online Horror Game

- What is Damned?

Damned is a randomized online horror game for up to 5 players (4 survivors and 1 monster). You’ll be able to play as one of four people trapped in different haunted places (hotels, hospitals, etc).As a survivor your main objective will be finding your way out, as well as helping your friends get out too. You’ll often find yourself on the edge, hearing and seeing ghostly things, trying to find keys and items to help in your escape. And sometimes you’ll find yourself running desperately from a monster, who’s there only to find and kill you and your friends. You’ll also be able to play as the monster. The game will feature different monsters, each one unique in its gameplay and hunting style.

- What kind of horror game is Damned?

Damned explores the sense of being defenseless against a powerful supernatural force. The survivors can’t directly affect the monster in any way. When it’s there to get you, your only chance is to run and hide. This perception of being defenseless is very strong, primal and terrifying, it builds up anxiety and makes you really scared, fearing any unexplained noise or movement. This is how Damned creates horror in a multiplayer game session, and we believe it to be super effective! (tested and approved!)

- Why is Damned a randomized game?

Every stage in Damned is randomized:

Almost all the objects in a stage may or may not appear;

The item system is fully random too, randomizing which item will appear in the game, and where it'll be;

The way to win a match as a survivor is also randomized;

Even the stage may trigger random events to scare the survivors inside.

- Why is Damned a competitive and cooperative game?

Because in a full game, with 4 survivors and 1 monster, there’ll be a survivor “team” cooperating to try and escape together, and at the same time they’ll be competing against a monster, trying to flee from him and deny each one of its attempt to hunt and kill a survivor.

- How to play as a survivor?

As a survivor you’ll be cooperating with your friends (up to 4 survivors in a single game session): You and your friends will be searching the level for keys and items to help in your escape; Each survivor will have a flashlight that can be turned on and off, helping you see your surroundings, but at the same time letting the monster know where you are; The survivors will be able to manipulate objects throughout the hotel, like drawers, doors, safes, cabinets, wardrobes; Challenge yourself to find the exit and get out alive.

- How to play as the monster?

As the monster, your game will be all about competing alone against the survivors team. The game will feature different monsters, each one unique in its play style. It's up to you to play a few rounds with each monster and decide which one works best for you.How are you going to hunt and kill the survivors?

- Why is Damned worth buying?

Because it’s fun! It’s really scary, you’ll find yourself on the edge a lot of times, trying to evade the monster or trying to pay closer attention because you don’t know if the sound you just heard is some random noise or if it is the monster haunting you. It’s a real horror game, it explores deeply the feeling of being completely defenseless against a powerful force that can finish you easily. Your only choice is to run and hide! And also because it’s really fun to play as the monster as well. You’ll keep haunting and building up anxiety in people, making them terribly scared of you. We really put you in the skin of a terrifying monster.

My reviews are primarily on the silly side (because I am a buffoon), but for this game I think I've got time to sit down grab a brew and do a full review.

I got this game waaay back when it initially released, with it's 1 monster (Lurker) and 4 maps. (Back then, I was heavily into Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the mods being created for Amnesia; so horror was my Wheaties, couldn't start the day without it). So suffice it to say, when this game came to my attention I was like "Heck yeah, horror gaming with friends! GIMME!". So I sat myself down, enveloped in complete darkness with no source of light save for my monitor, and played...

[Gameplay]I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game plays much like Amnesia! Hell yeah! Albeit, a somewhat less intuitive version, still fun though. The game goes essentially like this, find lousy keys to open doors to find better keys that open doors that lead to a silver key that goes to a door that leads to your freedom (along the way you'll want to find a crowbar or something to unblock the escape door, meh). All the while listening for sound cues to let you know whether the monster is nearby or not.

[Conclusion]Upon finishing a session, my friends were somewhat dismissive, whilst I saw the potential in this game and could ignore the rough edges (random crashing, Amnesia click and drag bugginess). I continued playing the game month after month, update after update, and found my experience never altering; to this day I keep thinking to myself "This game has potential". And that's where I am today, while this game has seen the additions of two more monsters (Phantom, and Mary) and is now at a total of 12 maps, has added the 'Insanity' mechanic (seeing things that aren't there), and has come out of Early Access, I still feel that so much more can be done with this game. In fact, I think at the end of this review I will whip up a list of additions and alterations that I believe would improve this game.But before that, I would like to say,

As it stands this game is indeed worth buying if you are a true fan of horror genre gaming, and to those that ARE NOT, wait till a Summer Sale or something because the $19.99 price tag might be a little high for most people.

Overall, this game gets my stamp of approval (for what it's worth), good job 9Heads Game Studios! You proved that a multiplayer horror experience IS possible.

[Extras]Oh good, you're still here! You're probably here for my personal Additions and Alterations That Would Improve This Game ( aka. AATWITG, working title).

1. Why Lurker No Go "Here's Johnny" On That Door?I think that considering that the Phantom and Mary are just straight up more dangerous than the Lurker, that giving him the ability to break down doors would add to the primal terror of a vicious creature that wants your innards to be outtards. I mean his hands don't even look like they can even grasp a door handle let alone turn it.

2. Insanity, I See Goofy Faces...Overall, I love the Insanity system, I love it to death. But the faces, those goofy looking faces are just silly! Have you ever walked around in the dark, and had a sensation that you were about to come face to face with something, like you think you can see something that is just out of sight and out of focus, when all of a sudden it's right up in your face like a deranged dermatologist! You couldn't tell what it was, you just know it gave you semi-whiplash. Yeah that, do that!

3. Insanity, Why My Legs Be Broken?Okay, this one is a little finicky. But sometimes when your Insanity reachs the point where you can't move or see, is alright, accept when you're trying to escape a monster! I get it, you see arms coming out of the walls grabbing at you, you slow down and think about your life, but when a monster wants to push your ♥♥♥♥ in! I think you got bigger problems. (Disable Insanity temporarily when in danger, that's all I'm saying GG).

4. Insanity Addition: Tunnel-Vision.Some horror games are doing it! Damned sure as shootin' can! You know that optical illusion that causes you to percieve the room or floor or what have you to stretch out further and further away. Yep that's a winner!

5. Need Me a Little Pick-Me-Up.This just a suggestion, but how about the ability to revive buddies? Like a chance that they survived the attack from a monster and are knocked unconscious, whilst unconscious the incapacitated player engages a nightmare scenario that they have to beat in order to wake up or wait until an other player resuscitates them. However, if blood begins to pool, that is a sure sign that the victim is beyond saving.

6. More Scenarios for Success.Escape is a fine solution, but for those more brave souls why not include an alternative. Excorsism, Slay the Monster (aka. Monster Bane), Sacrifice (appease the monster). I don't know suggest your own! I just think that more can be done here.

That's all I can think of at the moment, add your own suggestions if you want to. Thank you dear reader, for listening to me babble! You're good people.

I think that this game deserves a honest and detailed review because of all the negative reviews it received. I will try to remedy that, but I will also address the technical difficulties me and four of my friends faced while we were playing. If you are not interested in reading a wall of text, there is a TL;DR version at the bottom so feel free to check that out!

Why do I recommend this game?

Because it shocked me and it blew me away. It crushed all of my preconceptions of what is and what can be a good horror game. And here are a few reasons why:

I've never before played a scary co-op horror game.Never ever. And i honestly thought I never will. Then this game almost made me fall from my chair in one instance and I even wasn't the last person alive. Though, I only recommend playing this game with a group of friends, because playing on public servers can really ruin the experience. Trust me. This game is all about the atmosphere.

Monster design is in my honest opinion superb.They are given unfair advantages and the developer understands that is the thing that makes them scary.

Game forces players to adapt their tactics and their approach to the level they are facing based on the monster they are playing against.If you want to add a little bit of additional suspense you can actually play with "all random" setting and not check the player list when the game loads to see which monster you are facing. That way actually you really don't know what you can and cannot do. For example. If you are playing against Mary you can run but you should not have your flashlight on. If you're playing against Lurker you don't want to communicate through in game voice because it can hear you. If you are playing against Phantom you absolutely must not run or keep switching on/off your flashlight because you will die almost instantly.

Being a monster is not all about winning and ending a game soon, it is about creating the experience for the survivors. Let me give you an example - Today we played a hour long game in which we faced Mary (basically the girl from "The Ring") in the old abandoned factory. My heart was racing for the whole hour, especially when we lost two players and my friend and I were the last ones left. At one instance we actually bumped our faces in the monster player because he had the luck to teleport in front of us. He didn't kill us and just gave us a good scare before teleporting away. Why? Because as the monster you are the "creator" of suspense and fear. Good monster will miss a chance for an easy kill from time to time. He will stalk his prey, instill fear into the survivors and create really scary situations. That is why I recommend playing with friends, because it's not about the winning, it's about having the best possible experience. We did all die in the end, not because of a lucky teleport, but because of our own mistakes.

Playing against human controlled monster is terrifying.You can not glitch him out. He has no clear pattern of behaviour you can exploit. He adapts and learns about your patterns of movement and tries to adapt his strategy so he has the biggest chance of finding you. Human intelligence far surpasses any artificial intelligence (AI) and makes this game truly unique. Every one of your friends will have his own way of playing certain monsters.

When you are the last one alive the stakes are raised tenfold and the game really shines.Other players can spectate you and can hear you talk, scream and get freaked out. But you are alone and defenceless against the enemy you can only outsmart but you cannot beat.

What do I recommend for the best game experience?

There are a few things i reccomend you do as it will vastly improve your game experience:

Use in-game voice chat (automatic voice detection setting turned on) with 3D sound enabled.While the sound quality is not the best I have ever seen, it gets the job done, and it really adds to the atmosphere. One monster in particular (Lurker) can use your voice to locate you when he is in his corporeal form. Three-dimensional sound is really well done and it can often help you find your friends. Another neat feature is that you won't be able to hear your friends when you die (it would really ruin it for me if I could hear my friends support me when I am the only one alive)

Play with premade five/four player groups. Do not play with random people!It ruins the experience to hear monster sing his national anthem in a squeaky voice. As I've said, you need to get into the character because otherwise you won't get the best experience. You need to want to be scared. If you don't have a group of friends that can take the game seriously i advise you not to buy it as you won't get the enjoyment out of it. Even if you don't have the fifth player the game plays just fine with four people.

When playing the monster, don't play just to win.Everybody likes to win, but it's your duty to make the game fun for other people. Play to scare. Play to make your friends enjoy this really great game. Toy with them. They will thank you later.

Play on "all random" setting and don't check which monster you are facing.It raises the stakes and creates permanent suspense.

Technical stuff!

Here are our experiences. We DID NOT have major problems with this game so far, but i will update this review if we get more problems down the line - we ran this game on seven systems so far (two of us have laptops) so I can give you somewhat detailed performance breakdown and you can compare these specs to your own specs. Also note that "Film grain setting is OFF across all systems because we simply dislike the effect as it brightens the view.

The only computer that had real issues running this game was an older laptop and even it could run it without crashes.

Second part - Game and network stability!The game did crash a few times but it only once obstructed our game experience. Game tends to crash when switching to full screen, but a simple game restart fixes it.We've had almost no problems with network connectivity - game lobby just once froze for me as a game host but it wasn't anything a simple re-host couldn't fix. Game didn't crash while we were playing and we had just one random disconnect (i blame my lousy upload).

TL;DR

Four of my friends and I had none of the issues other reviewers pointed out. I've had a lot of fun with this title and would honestly recommend it to you if you have a group of friends that will get into character and won't actively work to ruin the atmosphere. Even though this game has a learning curve it is quite rewarding. Give it a try!

If you look for a reliable review, look no further, I have just the right review for you.

Bought this game on sale, excited as fudge just to see the community being butthurt. Justified? Nope.

When you play with decent people that have headsets, which you'll find very quick, you will have the time of your life.I am usually not into horror games, but this is just awesome. The atmosphere while you are trying to avoid the monster is terrifying and you will go crazy when you play the monster as you try to scare them with weird noises and screams via voice-chat letting your neighbours think you are a freakin' psychopath.